Rockingham, Docket No 04-C-658 Kevin and Susan Coco V. Doris

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ROCKINGHAM, SS. SUPERIOR COURT Kevin and Susan Coco v. Doris (Therriault) Jaskunas No. 04-C-658 ORDER ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT The plaintiffs, Kevin and Susan Coco (the “Cocos”), have filed an action against the defendant, Doris Jaskunas (“Jaskunas”), seeking damages or relief stemming from an adverse claim and an action to quiet title advanced by abutting property owners, Richard and Paula Porter (the “Porters”), to include attorney’s fees incurred in this action. The Cocos have moved for summary judgment, to which Jaskunas has objected. Jaskunas has filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. The Court held a telephonic hearing on March 14, 2008, and thereafter received additional legal memoranda, and documentation concerning attorney’s fees and costs breakdowns. After review of the parties’ arguments, the submissions, the pertinent facts, and the applicable law, the Court GRANTS both motions for summary judgment in part and DENIES them in part. BACKGROUND In 1957, Bessie Healey (“Healey”) obtained a vacant lot in Fremont (the “property”), described as “five acres Clough Land,” through a Tax Collector Deed. On May 19, 1972, Healey sold the property, with a more specific description, and constituting a purported five acres more or less, to C. Larry Therriault (“Therriault”) and his wife, Jaskunas. In April 1982, Therriault and Jaskunas filed a petition to quiet the property’s title. At the time, Charles A. Willey owned the adjacent property (the “adjacent property”). The Guardian ad Litem (the “GAL”) who had been appointed in the quiet title action concluded, after an independent investigation, “that if there are any parties that could conceivably have any interest in any portion of the property other than those named in the Petition, it would be the present owners of the 23 acre parcel abutting the subject property since it appears that the subject premises were [sic] increased in size over the years by subtraction from this adjoining parcel.” See Pl.’s Mot. for Summ. J., App. at 5. The GAL requested that notice be sent to Mr. Willey and his wife and he indicated that, after such notice is provided, he would report to the court, among other things, that he had been unable to find any “parties in interest other than those named in the Petition.” Id. Therriault and Jaskunas did cause a letter to be sent to Mr. and Mrs. Willey addressed, however, to their land in Fremont, the adjacent property, to inform them of the action to quiet title. This Fremont land, however, was undeveloped, and the Willeys actually lived in Epping. They may not have received the letter. The petition to quiet title, nevertheless, was granted in December 1982. On April 19, 1986, Therriault and Jaskunas sold the property to the Cocos for Eleven Thousand Dollars ($11,000.00) through a deed with warranty covenants which contained the same description of the property as was in the deed Healey had provided to them. On June 9, 2003, the Porters, who came to purchase the adjacent 2 property from the Willey family, brought an action against the Cocos to quiet title to about 2.2 acres of the Cocos’ claimed property. Although the Cocos requested that Jaskunas defend the action, as per the warranty covenants in the pertinent deed, she did not, and the Cocos defended the action at their own expense. On August 2, 2004, the Cocos filed this present action against Jaskunas.1 On September 7, 2005, this Court granted summary judgment in favor of the Cocos in Porters’ action to quiet title on the basis of res judicata arising from Jaskunas’ 1982 action to quiet title. Porter v. Coco, Rockingham Cty. Super. Ct., No. 03-E-0320 (Sept. 7, 2005) (Morrill, J.). Jaskunas thereafter filed a motion to dismiss the Cocos’ claim here, arguing that because the Porters’ action against the Cocos had been dismissed, it constituted an unlawful or unfounded claim as to which the warranty covenants did not require her to defend or bear any liability. The Court agreed, and held that the warranty deed rendered Jaskunas liable for lawful claims only, not the dismissed “unfounded” Porter claim, and, therefore, Jaskunas was not required to reimburse the Cocos. Coco v. Jaskunis, Rockingham Cty. Super. Ct., No. 04-C-0658 (November 1, 2005) (Morrill, J.). On appeal, however, the Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s summary judgment ruling in the Porters’ action to quiet title against the Cocos, and remanded the case for further proceedings. Porter, 154 N.H. at 359. In so doing, the Supreme Court explained that RSA 498:5-a, which sets standards for bringing petitions to quiet title, mandates that the petition name persons who may claim an adverse interest in the property. Id. at 357. The Court held that because the Willeys were not named as defendants in the action to quiet title, but “were persons known to 1 Therriault is not a defendant in this matter because he died after the Cocos acquired the property. 3 have a potential interest in a portion of the property and further, that the nature of their claim was known[,]” the petition failed to meet the express requirements of RSA 498:5-a and the court did not have jurisdiction over the Willeys or their successors to the adjacent property. Id. at 357, 358. This decision thus recognized that the Porters retained the opportunity, notwithstanding Jaskunas’ 1982 decree, to proceed as they were doing. Id. at 358. In light of its holding in Porter, the Supreme Court also vacated this Court’s dismissal of this case and remanded the matter for further proceedings. On April 25, 2007, the Porters and the Cocos reached a non-monetary settlement agreement in the petition to quiet title action, which divided the disputed land between them. The settlement was reached at the time the case was about to be tried. The Court had encouraged the parties to continue efforts to obtain a settlement. Jaskunas and her counsel were present in the court house at that time, were kept abreast of settlement progress, and participated at one point in seeking to achieve overall settlement of all matters. The Court approved the settlement on April 26, 2007. The Cocos here assert that the warranty deed they received from Jaskunas and her now deceased husband required, by virtue of the pertinent warranty covenants, that she assume, upon notice and request, the defense in the Porter case. The Cocos further assert that although they informed Jaskunas as early as November of 2002 that the Porters claimed an interest in the property and that they looked to her to assume the defense, Jaskunas failed to come forward and defend the title to the property. They assert that Jaskunas breached the pertinent warranty 4 covenants and is responsible to pay their reasonable costs and litigation expenses in defending the title of the property in regard to the Porters’ adverse claim and, as well, their fees and costs here.2 Furthermore, the Cocos argue that their eventual settlement with the Porters does not in any manner adversely affect their present claim. Jaskunas, for her part, avers that she has not breached warranty covenants contained in the deed because the Cocos have not been actually or constructively evicted, nor denied their possession of the property. Additionally, Jaskunas cites Eaton v. Clarke, 80 N.H. 577 (1923), and RSA 477:27 (2007), urging that a grantor is not required to defend against, or bear any form of liability for, anything less than a lawful or founded claim. Jaskunas asserts that the settlement agreement between the Cocos and the Porters operates to prevent the Court from determining that the underlying action was founded or lawful, and Jaskunas is not, in these circumstances, required to pay the fees and costs here sought. Finally, Jaskunas asserts that even if she breached warranty covenants and is thus liable for possible damages, she is not responsible for the Cocos’ legal fees and litigation expenses under RSA 477:27. Jaskunas claims instead that the appropriate measure of damages is limited to the difference between the value of the property as conveyed and the value of the remaining property, as it would have been valued in 1986, when it was conveyed. 2 The Cocos do not, in their summary judgment papers, assert any claim for damages or relief other than one for costs and attorney’s fees incurred in making a defense respecting the Porters’ adverse claim and for fees and costs here. The Court concludes that no other damages or relief are here being sought. 5 SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD In order to prevail on summary judgment, the moving party must “show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” RSA 491:8-a, III (1997). A fact is “material” if it affects the outcome of the litigation. Horse Pond Fish & Game Club v. Cormier, 133 N.H. 648, 653 (1990). In deciding a motion for summary judgment, “the court must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion and take all reasonable inferences from the evidence in that party’s favor.” Barnsley v. Empire Mortgage Ltd. Partnership V, 142 N.H. 721, 723 (1998) (quotation omitted). The non-moving party “may not rest upon mere allegations or denials of his pleadings, but [the] response . must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” RSA 491:8-a, IV (1997). “To the extent that the non- moving party either ignores or does not dispute facts set forth in the moving party’s affidavits, they are deemed admitted for the purposes of the motion.” New Hampshire Division of Human Services v.

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